The Tempest Calls
by black1beard
Summary: What would have happened if the Avengers had a 7th team member? What if she were a mutant? SHIELD needs all the help it can get and must put personality profiles and politics aside to save the world. They need Dr. Miranda Prospero. They need the Water Witch. OC based story line within the movie with no slash, just kicking ass. I also felt that the Avengers needed more women.
1. Chapter 1: Some Assembly Required

Chapter 1: Some Assembly Required

"Stark, we need to talk."

And the night had started off so well, thought Tony as he held up his now hacked phone. SHEILD must be keeping closer tabs on him than he thought to get the timing so irritatingly perfect.

"You have reached the life model decoy of Tony Stark, please leave a message."

Across from him, Pepper rolled her eyes.

"This is urgent." Agent Coulson said in his ever mild mannered way.

"Then leave it urgently," Tony said as he turned off his phone and shifted his attention back to the lovely Ms. Potts. Of course, he should have known that he couldn't get rid of SHEILD that easily.

From across the room, his private elevator dinged; _his_ private elevator. He was really going to have to talk to Fury about boundaries. Agent Coulson stepped out into the room, somehow projecting a feeling of being both apologetic and unforgiving for his intrusion.

"Security breach," Tony yelled, throwing his hands up in mock dismay. He turned to Pepper, giving her his best accusatory look, "That's on you."

"Phil!" Potts exclaimed as she got up to great the SHEILD agent, completely ignoring Tony, "Come in."

"Phil? Uh, his first name is Agent." Stark countered. He had honestly never considered Agent Coulson as a person with a first name. It's not that he didn't like the guy. He was always just Agent SHEILD guy. And apparently Pepper now knew him on a first name bases. Tony was not the jealous type, but he also didn't like to share.

"Come in, we're celebrating," Pepper said, smiling at the agent.

"Which is why he can't stay," Tony protested. See, not the jealous type at all.

"We need you to look this over," Agent Coulson said, indicating the black folders in his hands, "As soon as possible."

If SHEILD thought they could just barge in, on the night of one of his greatest triumphs, and order him to do their work then they were sorely mistaken. Besides, Tony didn't like the way SHEILD operated; too many secrets, too many unknowns.

Like a petulant child, Tony snidely replied, "I don't like being handed things."

Pepper sighed at Tony's childishness and smiled at Phil, "That's alright because I love being handed things. So, let's trade."

Tony could tell Pepper was up to something as she handed Agent Coulson her glass of Champaign and took the folder. She then just as quickly took her glass back and handed the files to Tony. With a slight smirk, she took a sip of her Champaign.

Looking down at the offending black files, Tony knew he had lost this little battle. Of course, that didn't mean he had to accept his loss graciously.

"Official consulting hours are between eight and five every other Thursday," Stark said, starting to fiddle with the files.

"This isn't a consultation," Agent Coulson calmly said, hands tucked behind his back.

"Is this about the Avengers?" Pepper asked as she looked back and forth between Tony and Phil, "… which I know nothing about."

Agent Coulson smiled pleasantly at Pepper. SHEILD already knew that Pepper knew about the Avengers and she probably knew that SHEILD knew that she knew. Coulson allowed himself a small internal chuckle. Who said he didn't have a sense of humor?

"The Avengers Initiative was scrapped, I thought," Tony called over his shoulder as he made his way to his desk. "And I didn't even qualify."

"I didn't know that either," Pepper replied in feigned ignorance.

"Yeah," Stark said, beginning to feel indignant, "apparently I'm volatile, self-obsessed, don't play well with others."

Now Tony was pouting and it made Pepper smirk, "That I did know."

"This isn't about personality profiles anymore." Agent Coulson said his voice serious.

"Whatever." Tony replied, "Ms. Potts, got a minute?"

He placed the now open data base on his desk and began hooking up the folder to his own computer systems. Pepper walked up behind him, trying to take a peek at whatever Agent Coulson had brought them.

"You know, I thought we were having a moment." Tony said, somewhat exasperatedly.

Pepper peered at Tony out of the corner of her eye, "I was having twelve percent of a moment." She turned and looked back at Coulson, then to the data screen that Tony was already getting absorbed into. "This seems serious, Phil's pretty shaken."

Tony glanced behind him at the ever calm and bland Agent Coulson, "How did you notice?" He paused as he looked at Pepper. "Why is he Phil?" he asked with mock indignation.

Knowing that Tony was messing with her, she ignored him. "What is all of this?" she asked, indicating the random data and flashing windows she could see on the screen.

"This is, uh..." Tony said, taking the data from the files and expanding them into holographic projection above the desk. For once, he was at a loss for words, "This."

The two stared in awe at the flickering images of the Hulk, Thor and Captain America in action. Each image or video clip had a dossier attached, outlining histories, strengths and weaknesses. Out of the corner of his eye Tony noticed an additional dossier, obscured by the Hulks rather large one. He pulled up the file and expanded it.

"Is that who I think it is?" Pepper asked in astonishment.

The dossier consisted of a single photo of a woman in her early thirties, wearing a simple button up blouse and blazer. Her short cut brown hair framed a heart shaped face with ice blue eyes and blue rimmed glasses. She looked like a college student's favorite professor; seeming even more out of place when compared to the three heroes she was thrown in with. Next to the photo was a video clip of a masked woman dressed in a black suit that shown blue when light hit it from certain angles. In the video, she was fighting strange thugs in yellow hazmat suites by flinging what appeared to be water.

"Dr. Miranda Prospero," Agent Coulson supplied, "She's my next appointment."

"I've meet her before," Tony said, a little shocked, "A bit on the nerdy side of the spectrum, but cute."

Pepper slapped his arm. "Ouch! Hey!" Tony cried indignantly.

"As you may recall, she is also the foremost expert on logistical computation and theoretical technologies. And I believe she put you in your place more than once." Pepper said, glaring at Tony.

"Yeah, well she never mentioned the whole water flinging part. I mean, now she is doing the super genius crime fighting thing? That's _my_ thing!" Tony grumbled, watching the fight scene play out.

Suddenly, he stopped the image and rewound it, his brows furrowing. He expanded the image until it the letter S.T.A.R.K. could be clearly read on one of the crates in the background.

"Hey!" Tony exclaimed, a little dismayed, "That's one of mine! Those are the arc reactor proto types I was sending to Berkley. How come I haven't heard about any of this?"

Coulson merely shrugged, "Nothing has been stolen. _She_ has stopped every attempt so far."

"Well that makes me feel better," Tony replied sarcastically. He made a mental note to shore up security. He might even have to pay a little visit to these yellow wearing weirdoes.

Pepper sighed and turned away from the screen. She had made up her mind. "I'm going to take the jet to D.C. tonight."

"Tomorrow." Tony promptly countered.

"You've got homework." She looked back at the floating holograms, "You've got a lot of homework."

"Well, what if I didn't?"

Pepper smirked, "If you didn't?"

"Yeah."

"You mean if you finished?" Pepper asked coyly.

Stark nodded his head.

"Well, um...then..." Pepper leaned in and whispered into his ear. Tony gasped. When she wanted to, Pepper could wrap him around her little finger.

"Square deal. It's a date." Tony said, finally admitting defeat.

She kissed him, concern etched into her lovely features, "Work hard."

As Pepper and Coulson left, Tony analyzed the data before him; twisting this bit of data, reading that bio. From out of the screen he pulled a small glowing cube. He looked down at the data and the image of Loki. His brow furrowed. Things just keep getting better and better.


	2. Chapter 2: The Witching Hour

Chapter 2: The Witching Hour

The Advanced Idea Mechanics, or AIM, was becoming a bit of a thorn in Miranda's side. Three times now they had tried to highjack shipments of Stark Industries' technologies from the docks of San Francisco and, if Ariel's calculations were correct, tonight was going to be attempt number four.

Miranda brought her hand up to her silver mask and activated the holographic display. The ship yard became a three dimensional grid with various life signs and foreign energy spikes outlined in minute detail.

"Damn it," Miranda cursed as she adjusted the display and zoomed in on ten human sized life signs clustered around several very large, very active energy signatures.

"I told you they would be here tonight," a soft and youthful male voice commented into her ear piece.

"Yeah… and I was really hoping you would be wrong this time," Miranda sighed as she jumped silently from the top of one metal crate to the next.

She made her way through the ship yard, avoiding several detection devices and traps that AIM had set out for her. After each battle she had with them, they would bring out some new trick to correct a previous weakness. It made sense. They were supposed to be a group of super scientists bent on destroying every major world government. Miranda just wished that they wouldn't be so damn adaptable.

With one final leap, Miranda found herself staring down at ten yellow hazmat wearing AIM goons. Seven of them were spread out in a thirty foot perimeter, occasionally checking hand held devices; most likely they would have alerted them of Miranda's presence if she had been foolish enough to trip a sensor. The other three had opened one of the large metal creates and were inspecting several small packages.

Miranda grimaced. Stark was sending the smaller third generation arc prototypes now. They were most likely much more convenient; being light, energy efficient and very, very portable.

In one swift motion, Miranda opened one of the many vials of water she wore around her hips and jumped off the crate. She slammed into an AIM thug below, knocking him out cold. Before the rest could react, she compressed the water molecules within her hand and threw the resulting ice spike into the face of another scientist. It pierced his mask and he crumpled to the ground.

"Security breach!" someone yelled, "It's the Water Witch!"

"Now boys," Miranda tsked, opening up several more vials and swirling its contents around her body, "Do you realize it's a school night? I really don't have the time to kick your asses right now."

"Oh, I think you will find we are more than ready to deal with you, Water Witch," one chuckled as seven of the remaining eight AIM thugs began to close in on Miranda's position. Each one was sporting a strange gun that was connected to two tanks on their backs via several long cables.

"Ariel?" Miranda asked, indicating to her AI the offending weaponry.

"My scans indicate that AIM has created a specialized flamethrower. It appears to be based on some form of ionization," the male voice supplied.

"Well shi…" Miranda was cut off as one of the thugs let loose a stream of searing blue flame. She defensively threw up a wall of water as she dodged to the side. A loud hiss was all that was left of the water she had used. Nervously, she reached out her senses for any water molecules that may have remained in the area of the blast. There was nothing.

"Crap," she cursed as she jumped to her feet, barely dodging another jut of flame. "Crap, crap, crap, crap, crap!"

The AIM thugs kept Miranda on the defensive as they blasted her. Her mind raced. She couldn't keep this up forever. There had to be a way to get back on the offensive.

From her headset, she heard a light, "Ding-a-ling, ding-a-ling."

"Ariel?" Miranda ground out breathlessly as she dodged another blast, "I thought I told you to hold all my calls while I'm working!"

"I know, Dr. Prospero, but it appears my cellular systems have been hacked."

"Tell them I am busy!" she yelled as she dived behind a crate, flinging useless ice spikes as cover fire.

"I am afraid it's Agent Coulson of SHIELD and he is being rather insistent," Ariel supplied somewhat lamely.

Miranda felt her jaw pop. If it's not one thing it's another.

"Fine," she grumbled, throwing a few more ice spikes from behind the crate for good measure, "patch him through."

A semi transparent image of Agent Coulson flashed onto her view screen. He was smiling mildly, "Good evening, Dr. Prospero. Did I catch you at a bad time?"

Miranda smirked, "I think you know…" another jet a flame roared past her head. "I think you know this is a bad time," she huffed.

"Two AIM scientists are about to breach your left flank, Doctor," Ariel chimed in helpfully.

With her position was compromised, Miranda dashed out from behind her cover taking an AIM scientist by surprise and knocking him to the ground. In one swift movement, she had his helmet off.

"Nice suites," she remarked coolly. The scientist stared at her in fear as one of her hands hovered over his face.

"It made a pretty good barrier to this…" she said, drawing out just enough water from his body to severely dehydrate him. "And this," she shoved the water down his throat and into his lungs just long enough to make sure he was unconscious.

The whole process took a matter of seconds, but she still barely had enough time to draw the water from the man's lungs before another burst of fire had her running for cover.

"We need you to come in," Agent Coulson said, making her jump. She had forgotten that he was still on the line.

Miranda leaped over another jet of flame and landed on top of the attacker. With ice spike in hand, she slammed it into his yellow mask. Again, she was back on her feet. Four down, six to go.

"As I recall, last time I came in on one of your little _projects,_" (saying _projects_ with the utmost disdain) "it didn't work out so well. I didn't like the way you guys ran things and I know SHIELD did not approve of my _special abilities_. So why now?"

"Things have changed, Doctor. This goes beyond politics now," Agent Coulson took a breath, "The Tesseract has been stolen."

This caused Miranda to pause. She had picked up on the massive energy spike from New Mexico late last night and suspected it had something to do with that alien artifact: but to have someone break into a secured SHIELD facility and steal one of the most powerful alien technologies on the planet?

"Can you give me a sec?" Miranda asked.

"Certainly."

Miranda made a mad dash for the Stark Industries container and the lone AIM scientist who had been trying to gather up the arc reactors during the fight. He fell backwards in surprise as she leapt over his head and landed on top of the container. His fellow scientists surrounded the crate and the super hero on top.

"This is the end of the line, Water Witch," one of the scientists called up to her, "There is nowhere left to run. You… are… defeated!"

Miranda couldn't help but smirk, "You know, I thought you were supposed to be an elite group of super geniuses. So let me ask you this," Miranda began to lift her hands and a low rumble filled the ship yard, "why did you think it was a good idea to fight me near the ocean?"

The AIM scientists began to look around in fear as the rumbling grew closer. From behind the Water Witch, a large wave lifted itself out of the ocean and slammed down onto the ship yard. The massive amount of water wound itself like a serpent as it made its way through metal crates and towards the hapless scientist. Those who were not stunned by fear tried to blast away at the oncoming wave, but their attacks barely made a dent. In the blink of an eye, the wave swept away the scientists and carried them up into the air.

Miranda turned the wave in on itself, creating an amorphous sphere of water. Careful to push their heads out of the bubble first, she proceeded to compress the water molecules, encasing the scientists in a giant ball of ice.

After guiding the ball to the ground, Miranda followed suit, half jumping, half falling off the crate. She was exhausted.

Looking around, Miranda surveyed the destruction her battle had left. Several metal containers had giant melted holes in them, while others lay on their sides. Here and there a fish flopped about, having been drug along by the massive wave.

"Ariel," she panted.

"Yes, Dr. Prospero?"

"Have the police been notified?" She leaned back, easing her aching body against the cool metal of the container.

"Well…" Ariel began to respond before being interrupted by Agent Coulson as he entered the ship yard.

"SHIELD has it under control." Coulson explained.

Miranda laughed ruefully, "Of course they do."

Agent Coulson offered his hand to the exhausted super hero who begrudgingly took it. Miranda was maybe two inches shorter than the SHIELD agent. She would have been taller if she had opted for heels in her suit design, like Ariel had wanted. But Miranda could never wrap her head around why any self respecting super hero would fight in balance hindering high heels.

"All right, Coulson," Miranda sighed, as the two made their way out of the ship yard, "Tell me what happened."

From his jacket pocket, Agent Coulson produced a small memory drive, "This should catch you up to speed."

Miranda took the drive and opened one of the metal cuffs around her wrists, exposing intricate circuitry. Placing the drive into a hidden port, she asked Ariel to run a virus scan. Agent Coulson stood awkwardly next to Miranda as they waited. She gave him an ironic apologetic smile. Miranda was about as willing to trust SHIELD as far as she could throw them.

"Scan complete," Ariel finally chimed after a few minutes, "There are approximately thirteen spyware programs on this file. All have been eradicated."

"Thank you, Ariel," Miranda said as she gave Agent Coulson an admonishing look. The agent merely shrugged.

"That last one almost slipped by me," Ariel added, amused, "They are getting better."

"Thank you, Ariel," Coulson replied, a small smile on his face.

Rolling her eyes, Miranda began to sift through the data on her screen. Just like with Stark, information on the other four super heroes and the Tesseract sprawled out before her. After several minutes of pursuing through the massive amounts of data, Miranda found herself standing in front of a large, black sedan. Agent Coulson had opened the passenger door and was gesturing for her to enter.

"Hold on," Miranda said, "Before I agree to help you, I am going to need certain assurances."

"I am sure Director Fury would be more than willing…" Agent Coulson began.

"No! We do this now or you leave without me." Miranda stated, stepping back from the car and crossing her arms.

"Very well, I am sure we could grant your requests… within reason." Coulson conceded.

"I want SHIELD to arrange a paid extended leave of absence from Berkley," Miranda began, listing off each point on her fingers. "I also want to be granted full autonomy over all my research and access to my own equipment."

Agent Coulson nodded, "Is there anything else you require?"

Miranda looked down at herself and then back at Agent Coulson, "How about a change of clothes?"


	3. Chapter 3: On Mutants

**Before I start this chapter, I just wanted to thank all of you who have shown interest and supported this story. It really means a lot to me. The Water Witch is a character I have been bouncing around in my head for years now, so its really exciting to finally put her down on paper.**

**Please let me know what you think of her and the story. Your reviews really keep me going.**

**Now let me present to you all the third installment of The Tempest Calls.**

* * *

Chapter 3: On Mutants

The steady hum of the engines filled the cabin of the quinjet as it made its way over the Mid Atlantic. Occasionally, turbulence would rock the jet sending Miranda's eyes nervously darting towards three steel containers in the back of the hanger. Each one held several delicate electronic devices that represented the culmination of her life's work. To lose even one crate would set her back years.

Trying to settle her nerves, she redirected her attention to the tablet in her hand. She had already gone over the dossiers multiple times, but it was the Tesseract and the data on Loki that she kept coming back to. Several years ago, she had had the chance to study the Tesseract up close. It had also been the first time she had interacted with SHIELD. At the time, all she had been able to tell (before she and SHIELD discovered their mutual dislike for on another) was that the Tesseract was an impossible four dimensional cube with sixteen corners and could defy the laws of thermal dynamics. It appeared to have no form of circuitry or any real signs of construction, and sometimes it would act as if it were almost sentient. Logically, the Tesseract shouldn't even be able to exist within this dimension, the third dimension. And now there was a new component to the mystery: Loki's destructive, mind altering spear.

Miranda set the tablet down and leaned forward, rubbing at her temples. She had only managed to grab a few hours sleep after Agent Coulson had recruited her and she could feel the beginnings of a headache coming on.

Looking up, she noticed her new teammate examining a similar tablet. Her eyes roamed over his physical form and she had to admit, for a man that was technically almost ninety, Captain Steve Rogers was rather handsome. The man was tall, blonde, blue eyed and ripped like an Olympic athlete. If she had not been practically raised at the Institute for Gifted Youngsters, she probably would have found him slightly intimidating. But she had and he wasn't.

With her mind waxing nostalgic on her time at the Institute, she didn't even notice when Captain Rogers tried to get her attention.

"I'm sorry?" Miranda asked, shaking her head.

"I said I may be a bit out of the loop here, Dr. Prospero, but what's a mutant?" Peering over at his tablet, Miranda could see it was open to her file.

"That's a rather complicated topic," Agent Coulson began.

"No, it really isn't." Miranda sighed, "It's just politically complicated." Leaning back into her seat, she folded her arms. The small headache was now threatening to turn into a full fledge migraine. She was very tired of having this conversation. In fact, she had gone over the subject on mutants so many times she could probably discuss the talking points in her sleep. In many ways it was a bit of a sore point for her; the few bad experiences she had when revealing her powers did not seem to outweigh the good ones. But she couldn't blame Captain Rogers for his curiosity. He did miss a couple of key moments in history while being a frozen under the Arctic.

Taking her glasses off, she rubbed her eyes, "It's a bit of a long story, but here is the jist of it. Mutants, like me, are a new phase in human evolution. Some would argue that it's the next phase, but that's more of a politically loaded term. Current research suggests that mutants are indeed not quite human. We differ from them genetically by about one percent. Anyone who is born with the," she pulled up her hands and signed quotation marks, "_X gene_ display unusual physical characteristics and/or abilities. For me, the gene manifests as my uncanny ability over H2O." She then demonstrated this by pulling some of the water molecules out of the air in the cabin and condensing them into a small, amorphous liquid sphere that floated over her palm.

"You will forgive me, ma'm, but that seems rather complicated to me."

"Oh, that's the easy part," Miranda smirked, giving Captain America an ironic smile as she dispersed the molecules back into the cabin. "The complicated part is the politics. Governments all over the world are arguing over how to handle their so called _mutant problem_."

Captain Rogers frowned. She could see him begin to draw parallels with what had happened in his own time. When he spoke again, his voice was low and deadly serious, "What do you mean?"

"We frighten people, Captain. We are different. Some of us have powers that can be potentially deadly. And what's worse, we are everywhere and can be anyone." Miranda placed her head in her hands. It was disquieting how she could sympathize with the humans' fear. "Some feel that the best plan is to have us separated from the general public; that we need to be regulated, cataloged and processed. There are others who would see us become living weapons to use against their enemies. There are even those who would use us guinea pigs." Involuntarily, she shivered as she recalled some of the firsthand accounts of these types of experiments. "And then there are those that see us abominations that must be exterminated for the safety and purity of the human race."

The hum of the engine was defining in the silence that followed Miranda's speech. Captain America stared at the floor for a long moment. When he finally spoke his words were ice cold and bitter, "I fought one world war to stop a monster of a man who held similar close minded beliefs." He sighed, "Nothing ever really changes, does it?"

"Not really, no," Miranda remarked sadly.

Out of the corner of her eye, Miranda noticed Agent Coulson shift uncomfortably. He obviously knew where this was headed. SHIELD was no enemy to mutants, but it certainly wasn't an ally. And she knew for a fact that there were several openly anti-mutant agents in high ranking positions.

"Is this how _you_ feel, Agent Coulson?" Rogers asked, looking up at the stoic man.

Coulson leaned back against the cabin wall and said, mater-of-factly, "SHIELD's current policy towards mutants is one of general non-involvement."

"Meaning they won't help mutants. Nor will they employ or openly associate with them." Miranda said, resentfully.

Captain Rogers… no… Captain America sized Coulson up, "I didn't ask what SHIELD thinks, Agent Coulson. I asked you."

The SHIELD agent stammered until Rogers fixed him with a steady gaze. Finally, Coulson shrugged, "Mutants are just another type of person. There are good ones and there are bad ones. I don't think they should be treated any differently." At that, he gave Miranda a meaningful look. She was immediately reminded of how Agent Coulson had been one of the few SHIELD agents who had been openly supportive of her mutant abilities, in his own mild mannered way. He was a good man: One of the few.

Miranda sighed, "Unfortunately, Coulson is not wrong about the bad ones. There are pro-mutant/anti-human terrorist organizations, like the Brotherhood, that don't exactly make human/mutant relations any easier. And for every twenty mutants that choose to use their powers in a beneficial way, there is one that will abuse it."

Picking up his tablet, Rogers began to swipe through files until he selected the one on Dr. Bruce Banner, "I think I get it now." Holding it up so all could see he played the video of the Hulk smashing his way through Culver Campus. "At first, I couldn't understand why you would want to try to recreate me by creating this," he punched a finger at the screen, freezing the Hulk mid roar, "if you already had people running around with super powers. But I get it now. These people, these mutants, they are unknowns. They aren't selected or trained. They aren't soldiers." Then a little more darkly he added, placing the tablet down, "People who create things like the Hulk- like me- want something they can understand; something they can _control_."

"True," Miranda agreed, "there will never be a shortage of frightened, power hungry men who will try to make us into something we are not. But true strength lies in our ability to withstand their influences and to be what _we_ want to be."

Rogers looked up at her then, as if he were seeing her for the first time. He got up and crossed the cabin to where Miranda sat and offered her his hand, "I am glad we have someone like you on the team, Dr. Prospero."

"Call me Miranda," she said, clasping his hand.

"Then call me Steve."

Miranda felt oddly pleased as she watched the man sit back down on the other side of the jet, picking up his tablet again. Being a mutant, having to constantly hide what she was, it didn't leave much room for camaraderie or friendship. And then there were the deeper reasons as to why she kept people at bay.

From the cockpit, she could hear the pilot say they were twenty minutes out from the base. With a sigh, Miranda realized she probably wasn't going to get any more sleep today. At least the headache was subsiding.

Across the cabin, she noticed Coulson and Steve were talking again, heads bent around the tablet. Apparently, she wasn't the only one that the Captain had more questions about. She watched as the two discussed the team. Occasionally, she added her own opinions; especially in regards to the Asgardian, Thor. Already, her mind was teeming with theories regarding the inner workings of the man's technologies. She didn't even notice until a few minutes into her speech on how so called _magic words_ weren't magic at all but a type of logistical sound encoding that she realized she had completely lost her audience.

"I'm sorry," Steve admitted, "but that was completely over my head."

"That's the other reason why we brought in Dr. Prospero," Agent Coulson explained, "She and Dr. Banner, when he isn't being the other guy, are like a pair of Stephen Hawkings."

Steve stared at Coulson blankly.

"I think a better analogy would be Albert Einstein, Phil," Miranda advised, like the good professor she was.

"Ah. I get it," Steve said, understanding registering on his face.

It was probably the closest she had ever seen Agent Coulson get to blushing. It was obvious to her now that the man idealized Captain America. The normally calm, stoic man couldn't talk straight around him. Miranda cringed in sympathy at some of the social blunders the agent was making. Why would he even mention that he watched the Captain sleep?

"I mean," Agent Coulson was saying, trying to recover from his last misstep, "I was... I was present while you were unconscious from the ice. You know, it's really, it's just a... just a huge honor to have you on board."

"I just hope I am the man for the job. That _we_ are the right ones for the job." Steve said, emphasizing Miranda, making it known that she was a part of this now.

"Oh, you are." Coulson assured, "Both of you."

Miranda cringed inwardly and shook her head. There was a reason why she didn't join teams. Then SHIELD shows up asking for her help for a second time and she caves. She was putting everyone at risk and for what, a chance to work with alien technology?

"I don't think I am what you're expecting." Miranda admitted, causing Steve to raise an eyebrow.

Agent Coulson merely shrugged, "With everything that's happening, the things that are about to come to light, we might just need something unexpected."

* * *

Agent Maria Hill glared at the screen in front of here. Data scrolled by as readouts from various parts of the ship gave her updates. But that was not what was making her upset. She had just cleared Coulson's quinjet to land and it was carrying _her_: Dr. Miranda Prospero, a mutant.

It was a big mistake to call upon someone with her background, with her history. Hill was certain of it. The fact that Director Furry had recruited the mutant over the objections of the Council of Five did not make his decision sit any easier.

Hill certainly knew how dire the situation was. She had been practically crushed when Loki and his brainwashed retinue had escaped from the P.E.G.A.S.U.S. facility. A lot of good men had died that day and she was more than ready to avenge them. But the presence of Dr. Prospero threatened the very fabric of the mission.

"Agent Hill," Director Furry called from his command post, "Give me an update."

"Agent Coulson has just safely arrived with Captain America _and_ the Water Witch"

"The Water Witch," Director Furry mused, "It fits her. Very good. I am a bit surprised Agent Coulson was able to convince her. Last time I saw the good doctor, she told me I could take SHIELD and shove it up my ass."

"Sir, Agent Coulson may have made certain assurances to secure her cooperation."

"Grant them."

"But sir!" Agent Hill protested.

"Unless she is asking for the key to Australia, you will grant any request she makes to secure her full cooperation! Do I make myself clear?"

"Yes sir," Agent Hill tried to keep the frustration from her voice, but failed.

Director Furry looked the woman over. There was a reason Agent Hill was his second in command. The woman was as tough as nails and twice as sharp. She could kill a man in fourteen ways; at least three of them were brutally painful. She was a brilliant spy and a hardened one. So he knew only one thing that could get under her skin the way it was doing now.

"Speak your mind, Agent Hill."

"It's the mutant, sir."

"And?" Furry demanded, his patience wearing thin.

"Sir, she is a danger to the entire mission. Her background…"

"Her background is no different than that of Dr. Banner. Are you saying I shouldn't use him either? Dr. Prospero is the only person on Earth who probably knows more about the Tesseract then Dr. Selvig. If you had it your way, you would strip us of the very people who have any expertise that would help us find it."

"Sir," Agent Hill began, trying to defend herself.

"No," Furry interrupted, "I don't care if she is a mutant, an alien, or a damn demon with a pitch fork. We need her and that is the end of it. Do you understand?"

"Yes sir." She responded curtly.

Agent Hill stared at Furry for a long moment. The heat in her eyes expressed in volumes what her words denied. This was not over. She knew what Dr. Prospero was. But more importantly, Agent Hill knew what she did. The woman was a threat that needed to be contained.


	4. Chapter 4: Behind the Shield

Chapter 4: Behind the Shield

The deck of the floating carrier was a whirlwind of activity as Agent Coulson and Captain Rogers made their way down the quinjet ramp. Everywhere Rogers looked, SHIELD agents were running, marching or securing jets to the runway. Over the din he could hear the familiar sounds of marching orders. The wave of nostalgia it brought on hit him like a blow to the gut. It had not been easy to wake up and discover that everything he had ever known was gone.

Peggy Carter was still alive, but she refused to see him. She had moved on with her life just as the rest of the world had moved on after he disappeared. Now Captain Steve Rogers was stuck trying to find his place, if there was even a place for him in this time.

At the bottom of the quinjet's ramp stood the most beautiful red head he had ever seen. As much as Steve Rogers had changed from the super soldier serum, a part of him was still very much the shy scrawny man he was all those years ago. But there was also something more to the woman than just her beauty. He had a feeling that the red head was far more dangerous then she seemed.

"Agent Romanoff," Coulson presented, "Captain Rogers."

"Ma'am." Steve nodded respectfully.

Agent Romanoff sized the man up, assessing him with a discerning eye. Captain Rogers knew that look. It was the look of a trained killer. She was appraising him for strengths and weaknesses. In a span of a few seconds, she had probably already found at least five ways to subdue him and another five to kill him.

When Romanoff seemed to have found what she was looking for, she finally responded coolly, "Hi."

Turning to Agent Coulson, she asked, "Where is Dr. Prospero?"

Before either man could respond, a loud shriek of dismay issued from within the quinjet's cabin, "NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! Don't you know which side is up!? Put it down, NOW!"

Natasha Romanoff cocked an eyebrow at the outburst. It was probably the strongest reaction Rogers had seen her give since he met her. Where all of SHIELD's agents like this, emotionally inert?

"She insisted on overseeing the unloading of her personal equipment," Coulson supplied, a mirthful smile on his face. Frantic activity could be seen from within the jet as the hapless SHIELD agents tried to keep up with Dr. Prospero's instructions.

Natasha shrugged. She had read the personality profile on Dr. Prospero. The woman was an unparalleled genius, but did not seem capable of putting much trust in others. Not an uncommon trait for a mutant.

Looking to Agent Coulson, Romanoff informed him that he was needed on the bridge. "I will take care of Dr. Prospero once she is done micromanaging," she assured him.

With a "see you there", Agent Coulson left Rogers with one of the most deadly assassins on SHIELD's payroll.

"There was quite the buzz around here, finding you in the ice," Natasha began conversationally as the two strolled over the deck. "I thought Coulson was going to swoon. Did he ask you to sign his Captain America trading cards yet?"

Steve looked at her askance, "Trading cards?"

"They are Vintage," she confirmed. "He's very proud."

From across the way, Steve noticed a man apart from all the uniformed SHIELD personnel. He wore a crumpled gray suit with a wrinkled purple button down shirt. His disheveled mop of dark brown hair was peppered with premature gray and his face was lined with care lines. Everywhere the man turned, he seemed to run into someone. His look and manner screamed his nervousness. And all of a sudden, Rogers realized who he was.

"Dr. Banner," Steve called out as he walked over and offered his hand to the skittish man.

Dr. Banner gave the proffered hand a wary look before finally deciding to accept it, "Oh, yeah. Hi. They told me you'd be coming."

"Word is you can help find the cube."

"Is that the only word on me?" Banner asked uncomfortably.

"Only word I care about," Steve confirmed. It surprised him how much Banner's reaction was like Miranda's own. Trust was going to be hard to come by on this odd team of super humans.

Banner took in the sentiment. He was still uncertain of the man, but hell, he was uncertain about everyone, especially himself. It came from years of being hunted like an animal, never being entirely sure if he had a lid on the _other guy_.

"Hey!" Captain Rogers called to someone, interrupting Bruce's thoughts. "Miranda! Over here!" He waved at a woman exiting the quinjet with several harried looking SHIELD agents carefully carting three crates.

The woman was tall and wore a simple black pant suit with a light blue blouse that complemented her blue rimmed glasses. As she drew closer, Banner could see that her softly featured face was delicately lined with care lines similar to his own. But what immediately drew his attention were her eyes. They were the color of the arctic sky, inhumanly ice blue and calculating.

"Dr. Banner, Agent Romanoff," Rogers introduced, "this is Dr. Miranda Prospero."

Of course, Banner had heard about Dr. Prospero. She had been making quite a stir in electrical engineering and theoretical physics for years now. He never would have suspected that she was a mutant, and a powerful one at that.

Bruce took the woman's proffered hand, "It's a pleasure to meet you, Dr. Prospero. Your last paper on the application of alternative forms of energy for nano-circuitry was revolutionary."

"I am glad you thought so," Miranda said ruefully, smiling at the man. "If only the grant board felt the same way."

From behind them, Agent Romanoff cleared her throat. With a mischievous glint in her eye, she addressed the group of uncanny individuals, "You all may want to step inside in a minute. It's going to get a little harder to breath."

A low rumble began to shake the deck of the carrier. The exterior of the ship became a whirlwind of activity as many SHIELD agents frantically finished their tasks before making their way into the bowels of the structure while others donned strange breathing masks. From the side of the ship an odd whrrring sound could be heard.

"Is this a submarine?" Steve asked, amazed. Even the largest U-boat he had ever seen was only a tenth of the size of this ship.

"Really?" Bruce asked skeptically. "They want me in a submerged, pressurized container?"

Normally, Miranda would have rejoiced at the idea of being surrounded by water. It was her element after all and she always felt safer when she had easy access to a water source. However, to be trapped inside a sub with Dr. Banner did give her some cause for alarm. She had spent enough time dealing with dangerous, barely contained super humans to recognize a bad situation when she saw one.

Slowly, Miranda crept toward the edge of the carrier and her jaw dropped. "You guys may want to see this," she said, a feeling of dread clutch at her heart. She motioned at the men to join her.

Together, they peered over the edge and into the water. Far below them a large turbine was churning the water, creating a deafening noise as it whipped the wind around their faces. Slowly, the propeller lifted itself out of the water, taking the carrier with it.

"Oh no," Bruce yelled sarcastically over the noise of the machine, "This is much worse!"

As the group made their way across the deck of the helicarrier, Rogers noticed how quiet and pale Miranda was. He watched as the woman clenched and unclenched her hands in a rapid, nervous rhythm.

Once Natasha closed and bolted the door behind them Dr. Prospero snapped, turning on the agent in a rage. She looked like she was out for blood. Her eyes, once cool and calculating, were now wide with fear. The complete change in her continence from the controlled and much put upon woman to feral fear unsettled them.

"Why did no one warn me that I was going to be stuck in the air?!" Miranda accused. She could feel the panic grip her. Was SHIELD full of complete fools? "Get me off this ship! Get me off this ship right now!"

"Miranda," Captain America soothed, placing a comforting hand on her shoulder, "I don't think you need to worry. Dr. Banner is not likely to cause any trouble, right?" He looked over at the unassuming doctor. Banner only fidgeted and looked away.

Agent Romanoff inwardly schooled herself to not immediately subdue the woman. All her training screamed at her that she was being threatened and needed to attack, but she knew that it would be like kicking a hornets' nest. Dr. Prospero was terrified and there was no telling what the mutant would do when threatened.

"She is not afraid of the Hulk," Agent Romanoff explained as calmly as possible, while Miranda shrugged off the captain's hand and backed away. Not once did the agent move her eyes from the volatile woman. "She fears the lack of water sources. But mostly, I believe she fears the lack of _nonhuman_ water sources."

"Nonhuman?" Dr. Banner asked, looking to Miranda with a touch of apprehension.

The mutant took several calming breaths, the tempo of her fist clenching slowing. Internally, she reminded herself that she was not a frightened teenager anymore. She had been trained by the best to control and harness her powers. It was the lack of sleep and that she was on a SHIELD base, she reasoned, that put her on edge. There was no way she would let herself lose control over a something as trivial as being afraid.

With her fear contained as best she could, she gave the others a wan smile. "Complete power over H2O," she reminded. "I can draw water from anything; bodies of water, ice, condensation, clouds, water pipes, plants, animals… people. If I wanted to, I could turn any living being near me into a dried out husk. When there are fewer sources for me to use, if I am some place dry, it gets harder for me to control where I get my water from. And it is a very dry place between the clouds." Miranda looked away, arms crossed, "I never should have come here."

The two men gazed at Miranda with equal parts amazement and trepidation. She appeared to have calmed down, but they now knew how truly dangerous she could be. No one spoke for a long moment.

Captain Rogers was the first to break the silence, "Then why did you?"

Miranda gave him a confused look, "What do you mean?"

He glared accusingly at her, "Why did you come here? Why did you come if you were _too_ weak to be anything but a danger to us?"

Captain America's words hit Miranda like a blow to the face. Too weak? _Too weak!?_ They echoed through her, stoking a fire of righteous fury. With the palm of her hand she pushed at the broad expanse of Rogers' chest. She pushed with every ounce of frustration she had. She pushed with all her fear, all her rage, all her regret and all her indignation. She pushed him so hard that he was forced to take a step back. And she continued to push.

"I am here," she pushed, "because I have to. I am here," she pushed again, forcing Captain Rogers to take another step back, "because my knowledge and skills are needed. I am here," she pushed him into the cold, hard, steel wall as she yelled, "because I am the super human genius that will stand between mankind and the darkness!"

Much to Miranda's surprise, Steve grinned at her. "Exactly," he said as he patted her on the shoulder and then turned to walk down the corridor.

"He tricked me," she realized, mouth agape. She watched as Agent Romanoff joined the man known as Captain America. He really was the real deal; a true hero. How else could he have made her comprehend her own motives? Sighing, she shook her head as she began catch up with the two. "I guess I am stuck," she said to no one.

"Well," Bruce mused, following after the retreating figures, "that was an interesting start."

* * *

The bridge of the helicarrier was a flurry of activity as the small group of super heroes entered. Miranda was astonished by how smooth the ride was being, compared to the exterior of the ship. If it weren't for the large set of windows on the bridge to tell her otherwise, she would have assumed they weren't moving at all. All around, agents clustered in front of flickering view screens. Now and then, one would confirm a read out as a tall, angular Agent Hill walked along the rows of computers. In the middle of all the action stood Director Furry; the heart of the storm.

"Gentlemen. Ladies." Nick Furry greeted as the group was directed to a large table at the back of the bridge.

Stepping forward Furry offered Miranda his hand, "Dr. Prospero, I am glad we were able to convince you to come back."

Miranda stared at his proffered hand. It had been years since she last saw the Director of SHIELD and the sight of him still managed to fill her with rage. In the one month she had worked with him, he had kept vital information from her, confiscated all her research and then kicked her out because she was a mutant. To say she did not much care for the man was an understatement.

"I'm here, Furry, because you managed to lose one of the most dangerous pieces of technology I have ever seen and I am probably your best chance in finding it. Don't think I will be sticking around a moment longer once you get it back."

"I don't think that will be a problem," Furry said, pulling back from her and redirecting his attention towards Bruce, offering his hand:

"Doctor, thank you for coming."

Banner eyed Miranda curiously as he took the director's hand with apprehension. "Thanks for asking nicely. So, uh... how long am _I_ staying?" he asked warily.

"Same deal as the good doctor over there. Once we get our hands on the Tesseract, you're in the clear."

Bruce raised an eyebrow. At least for the moment, Furry seemed genuine. "Where are you with that?"

Director Furry turned to Agent Coulson, who had been quietly standing in the background. "We're sweeping every wirelessly accessible camera on the planet: cell phones, laptops," Coulson listed off. "If it's connected to a satellite, it's eyes and ears for us."

"That won't find them," Miranda said, pacing back and forth, mind already teeming with ideas. "Loki is too smart to get caught like that. No. We are going to have to rely on the Tesseract to show us where they are."

"What makes you so sure?" Agent Hill asked. She crossed her arms and glared at Miranda.

Miranda glared back, "Because Loki is an evil genius, not an amateur. Did you even read the bio?"

"Dr. Prospero's right," Banner jumped in before the two women tore into each other. "We are going to have to narrow the field. How many spectrometers do you have access to?"

Nick Furry, the director of the single most powerful and networked spy organization on Earth, simply asked, "How many are there?"

"Call every lab you know. Tell them to put the spectrometers on the roof and calibrate them for gamma rays. I'll rough out a tracking algorithm based on cluster recognition. At least we could rule out a few places. Do you have somewhere for me to work?"

"Agent Romanoff, would you show Dr. Banner and Prospero to their laboratory, please."

"Don't worry Doc," Agent Romanoff said as the trio left the bridge, "we had all your little gadgets set up there. And there are some new toys, too."

* * *

**Yay! Chapter 4 is complete. Sorry it took so long to get this up. Spent the last week babysitting my sister's adorable spawn, so I didn't have much time to write. Like with a lot of my writing, the chapters are starting to get longer as I get more into the swing of things. I will try to keep things under 3,000 words per chapter.**

**I hope you all are having as much fun as I am with throwing a mutant into the story. I really like the politics of the Marvel universe and the moral questions that are raised. This is not a true crossover with the existing X-men movies, though. I will be pulling more from the comics for the Water Witch's background at the Institute. You will see why ;)**

**Again, thank you all of you who continue to support this story. **


	5. Chapter 5: Theoretical Technologies

**Hey everyone, sorry it took so long to get this chapter posted. I was experiencing technical difficulties. Thankfully, that's been dealt with and I can get on with writing more awesome stuff. So without further ado, I present to you chapter 5.**

* * *

Chapter 5: Theoretical Technologies

It took Miranda at least thirty minutes of fusing over her equipment before she was finally willing to admit that SHIELD had neither damaged nor tampered with any of her delicate devices, much to her surprise. And the lab itself surpassed anything she had had access to back at Berkley. SHIELD was giving them every available resource they had to track down the Tesseract. So why did it feel like they weren't giving her the whole picture?

"Because it's SHIELD," she muttered under her breath.

"Did you say something?" Dr. Banner called from across the room, startling her from her thoughts.

"It's nothing," she dismissed with a sigh and a wave of her hand, "just thinking out loud. Any luck with the spectrometers?"

"It's remarkable," he admitted as he adjusted the incoming streams of data on his screen. "I'm getting readings from almost every point on the planet. I have already applied the search algorithm…"

"About that," Miranda interrupted. She searched through the data on her screen until she found what she was looking for. It was a bit old and SHIELD had barely noticed it, but it could work. "Here," she gathered up the data and swiped it over to Banner's display.

"What's this?" he asked, sifting through the practically meaningless tables and numbers.

"My data on the Tesseract, from the last time I saw it."

The man gave her a confused look, "Okay, but this out of date. I have all of Dr. Selvig's data on the Tesseract and he was working off of your research."

"That may be true," she gave him a sly grin, "but Dr. Selvig isn't me." Miranda walked over to Banner's terminal and began to fiddle with the data. With one of her large metal bracelets, she moved the data to a visual holographic model that hung in the air between them. Instead of data streams and tables, it looked like a blue star nebula with electrical surges that slowly arced from cloud to cloud.

"What am I looking at?"

"It's an old idea I have been working on. This is a visual reconstruction of the energy surges of the Tesseract. And this," she pulled up another similar nebula like cloud, only in red, "is a scan of a sleeping brain of an infant. Note the similarities? Well, that's what the Tesseract looked like almost five years ago." With a swipe of her hand, she cleared the hologram and pulled up two knew sets of nebulae, again red and blue. "This," she explained, pointing to the red nebula, "is a scan of _my_ brain, fully awake. And this," she pointed to the blue nebula, "is the last _useful_ scan of the Tesseract SHIELD had made before their base was destroyed."

The similarities between the two were unmistakable. Though the two nebulae did not pulsate in tandem, the intricacy of the electrical firing and their frequency was nearly parallel.

"So you're saying this thing is alive?" Banner looked at her skeptically.

"I am saying it's awake. I don't think I could possible make a conclusion on its state of living." Miranda shrugged. "Back when I first studied it, I took these very specific readings on its energy out puts because there were times when I could have sworn it was acting on its own. I imagine SHIELD took these more recent readings here," gesturing toward the blue nebula in front of them, "to simply cover their bases and duplicate what I had done. I doubt they understood what I was trying to accomplish." I am not even sure I did at the time, Miranda admitted to herself.

"Okay, so how does this help us?" Banner asked, intrigued. It had been a long time since he had interacted with anyone he could consider a peer and he was enjoying himself.

"Don't you see it?" Miranda asked. Dr. Banner shook his head. "It's pulsating in a pattern. Once you compensate for the randomness of organic thought," she began to swipe away layers of the blue nebula, "you get this." All that was left were several electrical sparks within the blue nebula. But these sparks were pulsating to a steady rhythm, a measurable rhythm.

"Amazing," Bruce smiled at the holographic display. "If I add this modified data to the search parameters, it should be able to narrow our field significantly."

Miranda grinned. It had been a theory she had been working on ever since she was kicked off the Tesseract Project and she was thrilled to finally share it with someone. And to be able to discuss such complex theories with a genius like Dr. Banner was a true joy. Up until that day, she had a sneaking suspicion that she was walking around with a giant red bull's eye on her forehead courtesy of SHIELD. It was wonderful to speak without restriction again. But before Miranda could continue discussing her theories (she was on a roll) they were interrupted by the authoritative voice of Director Furry over the loud speakers.

"Dr. Prospero. We have located Loki. It appears our friend is out for a night of culture in Stuttgart," Furry's voice held an unmistakable note of sarcasm. "Meet Captain America in hanger bay B in five. Dress accordingly."

Miranda frowned. Why would Loki be in Stuttgart and why was he letting SHIELD know it? He was too smart to be caught so easily. Something felt off about all this.

"Why does Furry need _you_?" Bruce asked as she gathered up her gear and made her way to the door.

"Theoretical technologies… alien technology, really," Miranda explained cryptically, "I have a bit of a history with it."

* * *

The scene that was unfolding in the Stuttgart plaza below made Miranda sick. She watched as the sociopathic Asgardian reveled in the panic and fear he incited. People, young and old, richly dressed or simply clothed kneeled before him in forced supplication. They were penned in like cattle, encircled by a cadre of Loki duplicates.

"What am I looking at here?" Rogers asked as they watched the real Loki strut amongst the kneeling men and women.

"A sociopathic megalomaniac from outer space with delusions of grandeur?" Miranda sarcastically asked. Natasha snorted. Before Rogers could rebuke her, Miranda held up a finger for silence with all the authority of a seasoned professor. It worked. Rogers simply watched and waited as she pulled up her holographic display and zoomed in on Loki. An arc of energy clearly linked the Asgardian to the spear. The holographic duplicates were similarly tied to the spear, like spokes on a wheel. "His spear is the source of his power."

"Okay," Rogers adjusted his mask and shield. "So take out the spear."

"It may take more than that." Miranda said. At least Miranda _tried_ to say that. She stopped short as she watched in horror as an old man made a stand against Loki. "Shit," she cursed.

"Romanoff, drop us off. Now!" Captain America demanded.

Agent Romanoff quickly dropped the bay doors and hovered ten feet above the ground. The plaza seemed miles away. "You won't make it in time," the agent warned.

"We'll see about that. Doc, cover me." With that, Rogers dropped to the ground and took off running.

"Get high," Miranda yelled over her shoulder as she similarly jumped from the quinjet and rolled. She was not nearly as graceful or as fast as the great Captain America, but she made do. As soon as she was up right, she booked it. With each step, she pulled on her power, gathering water to supplement the vials around her waist. Trees and grass wilted as she passed. The road steamed and cracked. By the time she reached Captain America, she had created a sizable arsenal of sharp ice spears.

Loki was sprawled out on the ground while Captain America stood protectively in front of the old man. Miranda felt a weight lift off her heart. Rogers had made it in time.

Captain America glared down at the prone Asgardian. "You know, the last time I was in Germany and saw a man standing above everybody else, we ended up disagreeing," he intoned as he loomed over Loki. Times may change, he thought, but the villains never do.

"Ah, the soldier," Loki grinned maliciously as he rose to his feet, "A man out of time." He then turned his attention toward Miranda and his grin grew feral, "And I see you brought the gene trash."

The twisted Asgardian was baiting them and Rogers probably wouldn't have been so easily provoked, but then Loki had insulted Miranda. Rogers was an old fashioned man. Loki hadn't been wrong when he called him a _man out of time_, but at this point he didn't care. It didn't matter that Dr. Prospero was a capable and intelligent woman. It didn't matter that she could probably match him in a fair fight. None of that mattered. To Steve Rogers, it was a case of black and white. Loki insulted a good woman. He was going down; simple as that. With a hard right hook he sent the amused Loki sprawling to the ground before Miranda could say a word.

Loki rubbed his jaw as he rose again, spear in hand. "Hit a nerve, have I?" he asked, laughter in his voice. This was going to be more fun than he had expected. From above, the loud roar of the quinjet engines sounded. People began to scream and scatter as they realized that things were about to get a lot more dangerous.

A large machine gun dropped out of the quinjet and pointed at the Asgardian. "Loki," Natasha sounded over the speakers, "drop the weapon."

The look that Loki gave the jet was akin to the cat who at the canary; a very sadistic cat who plucked out each feather and ate the limbs one by one in order to hear the poor bird scream. A primal fear lanced down Miranda's spine. This man, this advanced alien being did not see them as equals, but easy prey. With a fluidity of movement no human could accomplish, Loki brought up his spear and fired.

Miranda didn't wait to see if the flare of alien blue energy hit the quinjet. She didn't need to. A long time ago, in another place, another lifetime, she had been trained to work in a team. That meant trusting your team members to take care of themselves now and then. So while Loki was distracted, she threw a long, cruel spear of ice. It accelerated towards the demigod with unnatural speed and with a satisfying "shink", sliced into his right shoulder. The Asgardian twitched back in surprise.

"I can fight my own battles," Miranda hissed at Rogers.

"We can argue about that later," Captain America huffed as he threw his shield at Loki's head, further unbalancing the demigod. Rogers charged in.

There was a key to fighting that only experienced fighters know about. And Miranda had been lucky enough to be taught by one of the most _experienced_ fighters on the planet. Even now, she could hear his gruff voice as she assessed the situation in a matter of seconds:

_Evaluate your opponent, kid. Look for strengths and weaknesses; compare'em to your own._ Miranda knew Loki was a trickster and some kind of evil genius. His strengths and powers were a relative unknown, but his tactics were obvious; subversion and distraction. She often used similar tactics. Miranda was not built for brute force, so instead she had always favored exploiting weakness through agility and diversion. She had managed to draw first blood and from the looks of it, Loki barely noticed it. It was also probably the last time she would get a surprise shot in like that. Fighting him was going to require more brain then brawn.

Swiftly, Miranda closed in as Captain America began his assault on Loki. _Asses your battle field, _a memory flashed through her mind._ They ain't always gonna be the same. And they ain't always gonna have what you need. _Miranda glanced around. The plaza was large and any bystanders had fled, which was good; lots of room to work with and no panicked people to watch out for. Unfortunately, there were no fountains and few trees. Out of the corner of her eye, she spotted a fire hydrant and she grinned: emergency supply.

Captain America took a swing at Loki, exploiting his wounded right shoulder. _Never, and I mean never forget to size up your team mates. You're all different. You got different strengths and weaknesses, and they ain't always gonna compliment. _Rogers was a close combat man, the kind that favored jabs and punches. That meant that her spear arsenal was out. She couldn't risk throwing projectiles at the two, so closely intertwined. A grin crossed her face. It was time to get creative.

Loki dodged the Captain's next jab to his ribs and lashed him across the face. Rogers floundered for a moment, surprised by the Asgardian's strength. The man packed a hell of a punch and in all honesty, he wasn't at all sure what else the man… alien… thing was capable of. SHIELD's tactical information had been limited at best. It seemed that Loki could easily ignore pain, but already a sticky red liquid was seeping from the man's shoulder wound. The Asgardian could bleed. Rogers could work with that.

From behind them, Rogers heard the Water Witch give a defiant battle cry as she swung a round house kick straight for Loki's head. The attack was a blur of elegant grace and speed. It probably would have sent Loki flying, if only she hadn't cried out in challenge. Rogers winced at the rookie mistake as Loki grabbed her ice encased foot. In an effort to distract the demigod, to save his teammate, Rogers swung wide only to have his punch caught in iron grip with Loki's free hand.

"Really," Loki gloated, giving the two super heroes a deeply disappointed look. "You are making this far too easy."

"I hoped you would think that," Miranda grinned devilishly up at the dark haired man. Why do the evil ones have to be so cute, a small part of her lamented as she drank in the deliciously confused look on Loki's fine featured face. With every ounce of will she had, she focused on the thick ice cast she had created around her foot and shin. Small fissures and cracks formed instantly. Then, with a final push of will the ice exploded into a million razor sharp crystals. And every last one slammed into Loki's face.

The man screamed, dropping his opponents' limbs and stumbled back. He clawed at his face and eyes desperately. There is nothing like the fear of blindness to distract an enemy.

Without so much as a glance at each other, the Water Witch and Captain America closed in on Loki in a flurry of kicks and punches. Now and then, Miranda would lash out with a spray of highly pressurized water aimed at Loki's face. The tactic kept the Asgardian on the defensive, but time was running out. If Loki used his spear… Wait, where was his spear? Loki's hands were empty.

The shock of that revelation nearly made her stumble and gave her opponent the needed time to slam her in the gut. Miranda doubled over in momentary pain as she fought for breath. It was a stupid mistake. A rookie mistake. She could see the spear lying on the ground no more than ten feet away.

"The spear," Miranda gasped at Captain America, pointing to where it lay. She began to scramble to her feet, desperate to reach it. The tide of the battle was shifting. It was going to be a race to the spear.

"Dr. Prospero," Ariel's calm, soft voice chimed over her head set, "It appears I am being hacked... again."

"Fuck!" the Water Witch cursed as she continued to sprint with god only knows what was happening behind her. She really didn't have time for this, but apparently she didn't have much of a choice in the matter. Large red letters flashed before her vision in a holographic spam message, _MISS ME?_

"_'Cause I shoot to thrill, and I'm ready to kill_

_And I can't get enough, and I can't get my thrill_

_'Cause I shoot to thrill, play it again, Oh!_"

AC/DC blared over the quinjet speakers and in the Water Witch's headset. There was only one man she knew of who would be smart enough to hack two highly encrypted systems at once and be a big enough ass to use them for a glorified entrance. Iron Man was taking the stage.

On cue, she saw a streak of light and the woosh of an energy blast. She didn't have to look to know Loki was down. Instead, she stooped to pick up the spear, like she had planned, and calmly sauntered back to where Loki was now being held at gun point by Iron Man himself.

"Your move, reindeer games," Iron Man warned as he stood over Loki, weapons locked. Miranda watched in amazement as the ostentatious golden horns and armor shimmered and faded, leaving behind no trace. She absent mindedly twiddled at her bracers and was relieved to see that at least a few readings had been taken during that display. Unfortunately, it was something she would have to analyze later.

"Smart move," Stark noted as Loki raised his hands.

"Stark," Rogers acknowledged the man, breath short from the fight.

"Cap'm."

"Ass," Miranda huffed as she folded her arms. It wasn't that she hated Tony Stark, she just couldn't stand him.

"Witchy," Tony Stark, glanced over his shoulder at the petulant, water wielding professor. "I believe there is the matter concerning certain donated reactors we need to discuss?" The woman gave him a steely glare. "After we take care of Prancer here, of course," he amended. "I see you have the glow stick of destiny."

Miranda held it in front of her. She could almost feel a study thrum of energy creep up her arms from the spear. It and the Asgardian needed to be contained, fast. "We'll talk later. Doomsday business first," she glowered at Stark.

"Nice to see you too," he practically sing-songed. God damn, the man was infuriating.

Loki was restrained and dragged toward the quinjet. Again, Miranda felt like something was off. There was something about the whole fight that was putting her on edge. She just couldn't quite put her finger on it. There was simply too much roiling around in her head to keep anything straight, the foremost being a long flight back to the SHIELD base with two insufferable megalomaniacs.

Miranda rubbed at her temples. She could feel another headache coming on.

* * *

**So, did you guess who was the _very experienced_ fighter that taught Miranda? Tell me who you think it was ;)  
**


	6. Chapter 6: Abandoned

Chapter 6: Abandoned

Numbers never lie. Numbers never leave you. You can't hurt numbers. That was why Dr. Prospero loved them. One plus one always equaled two. Miranda glared at the scans of the man bound and chained before her. At the moment, one plus one equaled chocolate covered car keys.

"See something you like?" Loki's slick voice cut through Miranda's thoughts like a knife. With her holographic view screen up, she had been staring at him, but not _at_ him. She had been pouring over the data she had collected during the battle and none of it was making much sense. In an attempt to make some sense of her findings, she had tried to compare his current readings to the old ones. Only twenty minutes ago, he had lit up her instruments like a Christmas tree. Now? Nothing. It didn't make sense. Even if he was just a normal human, she would at least be getting the normal radiation levels any living being possessed. At the moment, though, it was like he wasn't there at all.

Loki leered at Miranda as she pinched the bridge of her nose in exasperation. Apparently he was bored with the flight and wanted to play, or maybe he wanted to distract her from discovering some truth she was close to reaching. It was probably both. He was the kind of creature to play all angles. What's worse, he probably wasn't going to stop bugging her until she relented. So the Water Witch settled back into her seat and folded her arms. _Fine, _she thought, _He wants to play; then let's play._

With calculated laziness, Miranda appraised the Asgardian. Despite her best efforts to ignore it, Loki was rather handsome. He was lithe and pale, but not sickly so. His was a hidden strength and she had the bruises to prove it. Long black hair was slicked back to accentuate his long forehead and angular face, giving him the look of a predator. Without the ridiculous golden armor and horns, his clothing was actually quite attractive. Miranda had always been a bit of a sucker for black leather. It was his eyes, however, that reminded her of what she had seen of his true nature back in Stuttgart. They were frozen eyes, filled with a kind of painful lust. It was not the kind of lust one wanted to be the object of. It wasn't sexual. It was the lust a fearsome, half starved wolf has towards its wounded prey. They were the eyes of a monster.

"No." It was firm. It was simple. And it was all Miranda could muster without allowing a quaver in her voice.

The triumphant smirk Loki gave her said he was not so easily fooled. In mock hurt, he brought his bound wrists to his heart and exclaimed, "Amelia, you wound me."

The woman froze. It was amazing how much pain could be wrapped up in a simple name. Amelia was dead. Like so many things, she had left that little frightened girl at the steps of Xavier's Institute, just as her parents had and never looked back. So how did Loki know that name?

"Don't," Miranda warned. Her voice was low and cold.

"Perhaps, _Amelia_," he drew the name out, caressing the syllables like a lover, "you would prefer if I were blue?"

First the _name_ and now Kurt: Miranda was trembling. How much more did Loki know about her and her past?

He leaned in conspiratorially, his eyes dancing with mirth, "I can be blue."

The mutant watched in stunned silence as a cold blue tint began to creep from his hair line and down the features of the left side of his face. His once smooth skin became lined with strange swirls and his left eye glowed deep red, the color of blood.

"And what are you two talking about?" Stark flippantly asked as he flopped down next to the professor, nearly making her jump out of her skin. She turned and glared at him, but was suddenly struck by an odd realization. Hadn't he seen Loki's chameleon display? Her eyes darted back toward Loki and the blue was gone. The damnable man had purposely altered the side of his face that her teammates in the cockpit could not see. And now he was lounging against the quinjet's cabin wall, clearly board, but with a small smile playing across his lips. Loki knew he had gotten to her.

A growl escaped Miranda lips as fear quickly turned to anger. She had been so certain she could play his little game. Never in her life had she been more wrong. He knew things about her, things he shouldn't know. And that fact alone suddenly made her smile. A plan began to form in her mind.

Miranda grinned back at Loki, making him raise his eyebrow. She gave Stark the same cryptic smile as she said, "Nothing much. The Asgardian was just trying to unsettle me."

"I can see it worked," Stark remarked, taking in her creepy smile.

"Oh, it did. But he took it too far. He's revealed more then he meant too. Showed his hand too quickly, I believe." She tsked as she shook her head. To Tony, she looked more like a disappointed professor admonishing a student, not a cat suit wearing super hero confronting a villain.

"Okay, I'm going to pretend that that made sense and didn't just sound like a bunch of crazy."

"What's going on?" Rogers asked, joining them. He stood protectively between Miranda and Loki, arms folded.

"Apparently Rock of Ages here is trying to get under the good professor's skin."

"I knew we shouldn't have left her alone with him." Rogers said, casting a glare towards Loki.

"It wasn't that hard, actually," Loki quipped, though with less enthusiasm then Miranda would have expected.

"Look," Rogers turned on Loki. He jabbed a finger at bound man's wounded shoulder, making the Asgardian wince, "don't you dare mess with her or you're going to have to deal with me."

"Is that a threat? How pathetically noble of you," Loki hissed. He practically seethed contempt.

"Are you quite done defending my honor?" Miranda spat. Again, she was pinching the bridge of her nose. She was beginning to feel like her old self again. The name, Amelia, had conjured up a ghost of a person she no longer was, but it was fading. She was Dr. Miranda Prospero, a force to be reckoned with and she certainly didn't need misguided acts of chivalry.

"I…" Rogers began.

A large thunder clap shook the cabin and everyone turned toward the cockpit. Miranda could feel the sudden accumulation of water molecules outside calling to her, like long lost allies. There was a storm brewing and it was a big one.

"Where's this coming from," Agent Romanoff asked as another streak of lightning arched across the sky.

Loki continued to stare out the window, body tense. He looked like a little boy that knew he was about to be punished by his father. Miranda cringed, recalling who his father was. She would rather not be anywhere near Loki if his father's ire was involved.

"What's wrong?" Rogers smirked, noticing Loki's discomfort, "Scared of a little lightning?"

Looking up, as if he could see through the cabin's reinforced walls, Loki simply stated, "I am not overly fond of what follows."

As if on cue, a loud bang issued from atop the quinjet as something slammed into them. The force of the impact caused the jet to dip wildly, sending the three heroes sprawling. Miranda's equipment was going wild and for a moment, she could barely see the cabin through all the flashing readouts that lit up her screen.

Miranda swore as she began to right herself. "Ariel," she commanded, "Clean out the garbage. Narrow the field to visible and gamma rays only."

"Yes, Doctor," her AI dutifully replied, and suddenly she could see again. Rogers, however, was staring at her as if she had gone crazy.

"Who were you talking too?"

"It's her AI. Based on my designs, really," Stark groaned in answer as he scrambled to his feet. When it was clear Rogers still had no idea what he was talking about, Tony sighed, "Look, it's a talking computer thing, but that doesn't really matter right now. What does matter is whatever the hell just landed on our ceiling." He turned to Miranda, "Witchy, any ideas?"

The glare Miranda gave Stark was scathing, but she answered all the same. She knew what it was, or at least where it had come from. The technology's signature was identical to those SHIELD had seen in New Mexico. "It's Asgardian. Has to be."

Captain America looked warily at the ceiling, "One of Loki's pals?"

Stark put on his helmet and looked back at them. Miranda was certain he was smirking through that grim mask. "Only one way to find out," and with that he punched the access button to the hangar, letting in the rage of the storm.

Out of nowhere a red capped, armor clad, hammer wielding paragon of a man slammed into the hanger bay's floor. He did not speak as crouched, the storms furry whipping his golden mane into a frenzy. His steady eyes assessed them, one by one, until he found his target: Loki.

Faster than any of the three heroes could react, the man threw his hammer. It impacted with a screech of metal on metal as it sent Iron Man, and subsequently Miranda and Rogers, flying. From the tangled mass of limbs on the floor, Miranda watched in fascination as a strange flare of energy called the hammer back to the blonde man. With his free hand he grabbed Loki by the throat and dragged him to the edge of the bay. The arch of energy only Miranda could see through her equipment built up as the hammer was spun until it blurred in a flurry of centrifugal motion. Without a word, he came. And without a word, he was gone with their prisoner in tow.

"Now there's that guy," Stark said in exasperation. He struggled to get to his feet as the quinjet rocked unsteadily, the full force of the storm now upon them.

"Was that Thor?" Miranda asked in a daze. If anyone could describe how she was feeling right then, they would say she was star struck. It was not over Thor. To her, his like were a dime-a-dozen. No, it was the hammer… _the_ hammer; Mjölnir. How she longed to get her hands on that piece of alien tech just for a day.

From the cockpit, Miranda could just barely make out Agent Romanoff's voice over the maelstrom that was flooding in from the hanger bay's open door. "Another Asgardian?"

Captain America jumped to his feet, "Think he's a friendly?"

"Doesn't matter," Stark called back as he made his way toward the back jet. "If he frees Loki or kills him, the Tesseract's lost."

"Stark, we need a plan of attack!" Rogers called to him, the wind practically knocking him down.

"I have a plan: Attack!" Iron Man jumped from the ramp and he was soon swallowed up by the storm.

"He is an idiot, but he's… right," it was a lot harder for Miranda to admit then she would like.

"Someday, you are going to have to tell me what happened between you too," Captain America said as he began strapping a parachute to his back. He offered one to Miranda but she simply shook her head. He watched dumbfounded as great puffs of billowing clouds flooded the cabin and swirled around Water Witch's rigid frame. Her eyes closed in concentration and the fog rose up beneath her, pushing her up until her feet were hovering over the floor.

Miranda opened her eyes and smirked at the awe struck captain, "Don't need one."

From the cockpit, Natasha called back to the pair as they prepared to jump, "I'd sit this one out, if I were you."

"I don't see how we can," Captain America said as he tightened his last strap.

"These guys come from legends," the SHIELD agent warned, "They're basically gods."

"There's only one God, ma'am, and I'm pretty sure he doesn't dress like that."

Miranda scoffed, "Please. You think your God is the exception? I have met my fair share of things that mankind thought were gods only to have them turn out to be ancient mutants or aliens. There is only one thing I have learned for certain," she glance back at the frowning captain, and she couldn't help but smile, "Any sufficiently analyzed _magic_ becomes indistinguishable from science."

OOOO

The wind buffeted Miranda as she soared threw the storming clouds. It had been years since she'd flown and she found it was just like riding a bicycle; if that bicycle happened to be thousands of feet in the air. Despite the risks, she loved it. The feel of the wind rushing past her face, the comforting caress of the clouds against her senses, the heady scent of ozone; it was better than sex.

"Doc," Rogers' voice crackled over her head set. "Hey doc, do you read me?"

Miranda shook her head, drawing herself out of her revelry, "I hear you, Captain, loud and clear."

"Good. Can you see Iron Man, or the Asgardians?"

With a few swipes of her wrists, she adjusted her field of vision, "Iron man is half a klick from your position at 10 o'clock."

"I see him," Captain America confirmed, "Looks like he's headed for that out cropping up ahead."

"Not surprising. I am picking up one very large Asgardian signature over there."

"Just the one? Loki escaped?"

"Can't say for sure," Miranda continued to fiddle with her readings. "That was exactly what I was trying to figure out before Loki distracted me. I can't get any readings off him. Not even life signs."

Suddenly, the Asgardian's signs plummeted to the ground as Iron Man collided with them.

"Fucking idiot," Miranda grumbled under her breath. "Hey, Rogers? How long before you can reach the illustrious Iron Man?"

"Less than five."

"Good, I'm headed to that out crop. I think Loki is still there." She zoomed in her view until she could clearly see Loki lounging on the rocks, "Okay, scratch that. He is definitely there."

"You're going to need back up," Rogers insisted.

Miranda sighed, "Look, Steve, I am a big girl. I was taught by people who could shoot lasers from their eyes. I… can… _handle him_. Besides," an unpleasant smile crossed her face, "I have a score to settle."

"Fine, you can reach him before I can anyway. Just," Rogers sighed, he wasn't used to this. A woman in the heart of combat was not completely foreign to him, but it put him on edge all the same. "Just be careful."

"I will," Miranda assured. With a great force of will, she darted towards the out crop.

"I don't like this," Ariel whined over her speakers. "You should have listened to Captain Rogers."

"Well, it's a good thing you don't have a say in the matter."

The AI huffed, "I never do."

The rocky out crop loomed before her as she slowed her speed. As light as a feather, she dropped herself next to the reclining from of Loki. For a long moment they looked on in silence; Loki gazing at the battle below and the Water Witch staring at him. It was the kind of silence one hears before the break of battle. It was Loki who first breached the silence.

"What took you so long?" he asked, a lazy smirk caressing his features. "The battle has already begun," he grandly gestured toward the forest below where Iron Man and Thor seemed determined to bash each other's skulls in, "and you have missed some rather witty repartee. Shall I repeat it for you?"

"You're not running." It wasn't a question. Loki frowned. It was an unguarded frown and lasted mere moments, but Miranda had caught it.

As smoothly as a demon sidling up to a priest, Loki simpered, "And how could I possibly hope to get away from such brave and noble heroes such as your selves? You have my spear, my source of power. I am absolutely defenseless."

"You really think that's going to work?" Miranda asked. Disappointment laced her words. "I thought you were the great god of tricks, the man with the silver tongue, or have you realized that you underestimated me?"

The dark god glared at her then, all pretenses falling from his features. His eyes followed her warily as Prospero gracefully settled down next to him, seemingly without a care in the world.

"I have a few theories about you I wish to discuss. Care to hear them?" Loki did not respond, but she could see is his unbridled curiosity in his eyes. She smiled, "The spear gives you power, but you have your own. I think your masking it somehow."

Nothing in Loki's posture told her one way or another if she was right, which meant she hit the nail on the head. He was on the defensive now. She had gotten too close and he had closed himself off completely, but she was far from finished with him.

"I also think you want me to believe you are some kind of mind reader, or maybe that you omnipotent, the way you brought up my old name… my old lover, but you're not. I'm not sure how SHIELD found out about my name," she sighed, leaning back and staring up at the thundering sky, "but I know you got it from that agent of theirs, the one with the bow."

Loki smiled then, a purely amused smile, like he had finally found a toy worth playing with, "Now aren't you just full of interesting notions. Tell me, does your precious science help you sleep at night, knowing what you've done, who you've hurt?"

He knew. Of course he knew. If SHIELD knew her original name, then they certainly knew about that. This did not keep the memory of that time from hurting any less. She was losing the upper hand. It was time for her to finish this, once and for all.

"You think you were abandoned."

"Excuse me?" Loki shook his head, trying to follow this sudden shift in the conversation.

"I said, you think you were abandoned. That the people you loved betrayed you," she glanced over at Loki, allowing a tinge of pity to enter her voice. "Am I wrong?"

"You know nothing," Loki hissed.

"That is where you are wrong, Loki. I know that SHIELD says you are Thor's brother and that there is little else they know about you," Miranda sighed. SHIELD could be so short sighted sometimes. "But do you know what our myths say about you? They say you are a jötunn, a frost giant." Loki stiffened. "They say that Odin accepted you as a blood brother and you became a member of Valhalla. But that is not exactly what happened. We humans like to embellish our stories a bit."

"How…" Loki began, but was distracted by a sudden blast of sound and a flash of light out in the woods. It was like someone had struck the gong of the gods.

"You were probably taken as a babe," Miranda continued, ignoring the noise. "Raised with Thor like brothers until you found out the truth," she shook her head. "Used and abandoned. Lost and without a purpose."

Out of the corner of her eye, she could see Loki visibly tremble. Was he furious or was it something else? She could not say. But she felt no pity for him. He was a spoiled brat who still had a home and a family that at least seemed to want him. Miranda glared at the man, her voice full of contempt, "You don't know what it really means to be abandoned."

That had done it. Loki lunged at her, but before he could reach her, great hands clasped his shoulders.

"That is enough, Loki," Thor's deep voice rumbled.

"Damn," Stark mused as he hovered next to Thor, "You have to tell me what you said to Mister-Nerves-of-Steel."

"Perhaps," Miranda waved dismissively as she sifted through her scans of Loki over the last five minutes. There, in the last ten seconds, she found what she was looking for; Loki's readings had lit up like a Christmas tree.

* * *

**Author's Notes: **I just wanted to take a moment to thank everyone who took the time to write a review or favorited/followed this story. You are the reason I write :)

So, as you may have guessed, Miranda's ex is the Incredible Nightcrawler. He's always been a personal favorite and since this is my story, I allowed myself that little indulgence. However, there is more to that story then meets the eye. Stay tuned as I reveal more of Miranda Prospero's dark past.


	7. Chapter 7: The Past that Haunts You

**Author's Notes:** So I the last chapter I wrote was a lot longer then I intended it to be. It is a lot harder than I thought to keep these chapters under three thousand words. Oh well, at least this one is under my limit. I hope you all enjoy it.

* * *

Chapter 7: The Past that Haunts You

The long car ride had been made in complete silence. Amelia's father sat rigidly across from her and her mother seemed possessed of a sedate melancholy as she stroked her little girl's long brown hair. At least her mother still touched her. Amelia, for her part, had tried to amuse herself with the scenery that flashed by, but the winter had stripped the New England countryside bare and it left the little girl feeling hollow.

Ever since the incident at the country club Amelia had felt empty inside. It was like whatever had gone off in her head had scooped everything that was Amelia out of her. Now, she wasn't sure what she was anymore. She had heard the whispers—mutant—but didn't understand. No one looked at her the same way anymore, especially her father.

The town car took a turn and Amelia could see an old English style manor peeking out from behind a row of hedges. Large, barren oaks reached out and caressed the structure, like skeleton hands clasping at a treasure.

"Mommy?" Amelia asked uncertainly as she clung to her teddy. At the moment, her little blue bear felt like the only friend she had left in the world. Her mother said nothing, but Amelia could feel the tension in her hands as she continued to pet her head. Looking up into her mother's beautiful face, Amelia could see she was weeping.

When the town car stopped, Amelia's father swiftly exited the vehicle. He did not wait for the chauffer and began to unload the trunk of all of Amelia's things. It was almost everything the little ten-year-old owned. She had been advised to pack what she could not do without, because it may be a long time until she saw her room again. So, for the past two days Amelia had sat in her room, packing away her life and crying.

Amelia clung to her mother like her life depended on it. She didn't want to leave. It wasn't fair. She didn't mean to hurt all those people. She didn't even know she could. But her mother carefully detached herself from her daughter and pushed her towards the door.

The last words Amelia would ever hear her mother say were not words of love or anger. They weren't even an apology for what she was about to do to her oldest daughter. With tears in her eyes and a steady voice, all her mother said was, "Be a good girl."

Her father's powerful hands gripped Amelia's arm and roughly pulled her from the town car before she could throw herself back into her mother's arms, before she could entrench herself in the town car, before she could runaway.

"Don't you dare," her father hissed. If Amelia wasn't so frightened, she would cry. This wasn't her father. Her father loved her. He could never treat his little brown eyed angel like this, but then again, she no longer had brown eyes.

"Good afternoon," someone called from the top of the old mansion's stone steps. An old, bald man with a kind smile was looking down at them. From behind the wheel chair where he sat, the most beautiful woman Amelia had ever seen stood over him. Her flawless dark skin stood out in stark contrast to her shockingly white hair. The woman did not smile.

Amelia's father let go of her and crossed his arms, "Are you Professor Xavier?"

"Indeed, I am," the old man said as the woman behind him pushed him down a set of ramps. "And you must be Mr. Winters," Xavier offered the man his hand.

Amelia's father simply glared at the man, "The girl's tuition has been paid in full. She is not to visit us on holidays or weekends and you will not contact us again."

Something broke in Amelia then, it wouldn't be until she was much older that she would realize how irreparable that damage had been. The tears that she was holding back overflowed as she realized what was happening.

"No daddy!" she cried, dropping her blue teddy to the ground and clinging to the cuffs of his suit, "Please don't leave me here! I'll be a good girl. I promise. I won't use water again. I won't touch it! Please! I love you!"

Mr. Winters roughly shook off his daughter's grasp and Amelia stumbled to the ground. The little girl looked up at her father and saw not hate or rage, but hurt. Her father was hurting because of what she had done.

"You are not my daughter, you are a monster," her father intoned, looking down at the crumpled thing on the ground. "My daughter died at her tenth birthday party. You killed her the moment you attacked the party guests…"

"No, daddy. No!" Amelia sobbed, "I didn't mean too. It… it just happened."

"You killed Mrs. Applegates!" Mr. Winters screamed at her and Amelia flinched away. The little girl felt suddenly cold inside. She hadn't heard that someone had died. Old Mrs. Applegates had always been weak and feeble, but to know that she was the one who killed her? Her father, no, Mr. Winters was right. She was a monster.

Suddenly, Amelia felt firm, gentle hands protectively clasp her shoulders. The strange, beautiful woman was holding her and glaring up at her former father, "That is quite enough, Mr. Winters. Leave now, if you know what is good for you."

Mr. Winters did not protest. He turned to leave, but as he entered the town car, he dealt the mortal blow to young Amelia Winters. "We have disowned you," his voice was cold and flat, "And to the rest of the world, Amelia Winters is dead…" He looked as if he wished to say more, but instead he simply shook his head and closed the town car's door.

The little girl shook off the woman's grasp as she stood up. She couldn't let people touch her anymore. She was a monster. Her once brown eyes, now ice blue, stared blankly as she watched her life speed away down the drive and out the wrought iron gates.

"Why don't we go inside, Amelia? The other children are excited to meet you," Professor Xavier gestured toward the old house.

"I'm not Amelia," the girl said flatly, still staring down the drive way. Xavier shared a sad look with the white haired woman. This was, sadly, a situation they had encountered many times before.

"Alright, than," the white haired woman knelt down next to the little girl. She picked up the blue bear and dusted it off. With a warm smile, she offered the small treasure to the broken girl who clasped at the proffered bear, "My name is Ororo. The students like to call me Storm. You can call me that too, if you like. What can I call you?"

The little girl looked down at her bear. She had no idea who she was anymore. Amelia Winters was dead, but this shell had to keep on living. She shrugged, but it turned into more of a slump, "I overheard one of the servants say I was a witch. You could call me Witch?"

"That's a bit negative, don't you think?" Xavier asked, concern written on his features.

"I don't think so," Ororo smiled, "Witches are strong people and can be very good. Until you find a new name, we can call you Water Witch. Do you like that?"

"Water Witch," the little girl tested the name. It wasn't perfect, but it fit her better then Amelia Winters did. So the Water Witch nodded.

"Very good," Xavier said, his friendly smile returning, "Let's get your things inside to your new room."

The Water Witch looked at the suitcases surrounding her and frowned. If she wasn't Amelia anymore, then these things didn't belong to her either.

"Sell them."

Storm looked at the little girl with surprise, "All of it? Are you sure?" The Water Witch nodded and the woman sighed, giving Xavier a helpless look, "If that is what you want."

And with that, Amelia was dead and gone. The Water Witch was alone in the darkness, nameless and cursed.

* * *

The rumble of the quinjet hitting the runway woke Miranda from her unpleasant dreams. She wiped at her mouth and looked around. Her dream clung to her, refusing to let go. She half expected to hear Dr. McCoy admonishing her for falling asleep during his lesson. But when her eyes landed on Loki, his lips twisting into a cruel and knowing smile, she knew exactly where she was.

"Bad dreams?" Thor's deep voice rumbled much more closely then Miranda would have expected and she shot up like a rocket, slamming the top of her head into the Asgardian's chin.

"Shit," she cursed as she rubbed her head. It took her only a few seconds to realize what had happened. Miranda had somehow ended up sleeping on Thor's lap. She didn't even remember falling asleep. And was that Thor's cape around her shoulders?

"Uh, sorry about…" she gestured to Thor, indicating his lap and chin, "that."

"It is quite alright, my lady," Thor said, rubbing at his chin. "You fell asleep whilst studying your devices. It would have been unkind of me to let you sleep in such an uncomfortable position."

"Well," Miranda eyed the man warily as she handed back his large red cape, "I appreciate the thought, but I don't let people touch me without my permission."

Thor stared at her in surprise. That was not what he had expected her to say. He ran a hand through his long blonde hair as he awkwardly stood up and addressed her with a bow, "My apologies, my lady. I did not mean to over step my bounds."

Great, first contact with an alien being and Miranda had managed to screw it up by making it awkward. Admittedly, it wasn't really first contact, but it was no excuse for unprofessionalism.

"I told you to leave her alone, big man," Tony Stark laughed from across the cabin.

"The last thing I need to hear when I first wake up is your voice, Stark," Miranda ragged, venting all her embarrassment involving Thor and pain from her dream on him. "Why don't you do something useful for once in your pathetic life and shut the fuck up!"

The quinjet cabin was utterly silent after her outburst. Everyone was staring at her and she knew just what they were thinking; is this going to be when the Water Witch loses it and turns everyone into mummified corpses? Miranda put her head in her hands. Her headache was gone, the sleep had taken care of that, but now she was filled with a deep heart ache.

"Sorry, that was uncalled for," Miranda, her voice barely above a whisper, apologized to Stark. Something she thought she could never do.

In response, Tony merely shrugged, "No big deal. Though, it would be a boost to my ego if my words alone could set you on suction."

Miranda laughed at the thought of that, the tension breaking, "And I would hate to inflate your ego any further."

The bay doors to the quinjet opened, letting in the cool night air within the helicarrier's hanger. There were at least fifteen highly armed SHIELD guards waiting for them. Without a word, they grabbed Loki and escorted him into the bowels of the aircraft. One tried to take the cylindrical case in which Miranda was caring the Loki's spear, but she refused to hand it over. She wasn't about to let the thing out of her sight until she had Caliban guarding it. Surprisingly, the SHIELD agent let her keep it without a fuss and she was left alone with her four teammates.

"Are you alright," Rogers asked as the group made their way off the quinjet.

Miranda sighed, "Loki scared up some old ghosts of mine," she confided, "Had some bad dreams about them."

"Loki always seems to know how best to hurt you, to undermine your conviction and self worth," Thor spoke from behind them. There was an old, deep pain in his voice, "I am sorry for any ill he may have caused you. He is my burden. He should not be yours."

"I think we can all agree that Loki has made himself everyone's pain in the ass right now," Tony quipped as he made a b-line for a large metal crate on the other side of the hanger. "I'll catch up in a minute. I don't think I need the suit to face down Furry…" he paused, as if thinking, "Well, I probably do, but I can't let him think that." Stark laughed as he walked away, fully amused with himself.

For a while, the four of them walked on in silence. Eventually, Agent Romanoff took off with Thor; something about a debriefing him.

Before Rogers and Miranda reached the long hallway that led down to the labs, the man stopped in his tracks. When he turned to face Miranda, his features were etched with concern, "Look, I know you are strong and capable, but all soldiers wind up with some sort of baggage after a while."

"I am not a soldier," Miranda reminded him.

"Yes, I know that. All I am saying is that whatever weight you are carrying around, you can at least make it lighter by sharing it," Rogers said earnestly.

"_The past is prologue_," Miranda said, looking wistfully down the long corridor. She turned back to the confused Captain, "One of my favorite quotes from Shakespeare's _The Tempest_," she explained. "It's also where I got my name; the magical wizard, Prospero, exiled to a lone island with his daughter, Miranda. It seemed too fit." She sighed, "It's a long story, but I will share it with you when we have the time, I promise." And for the first time in her life, Miranda realized she wasn't lying.


	8. Chapter 8: A Crack in the Wall

**Author's notes: **Hey everyone, sorry it took so long to get this chapter out and its a short one to boot. Chapter 8 is always where I seem to hit writer's block. But here it is, against the odds. Hurray! Take that, stupid brain and its inability to keep focused.

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Chapter 8: A Crack in the Wall

Banner was trying to focus. He really was. All he wanted to do was find the Tesseract and get off that ship as quickly as possible. Of course, that all depended on whether or not Nick Furry was a man of his word. And that was where his mind kept going to; could he trust SHIELD?

In all his years on the run, SHIELD had never made their presence known. They did not hound his every step like the Hulk Buster Units and yet they found him as easily as if they had looked him up in the phone book. They weren't amateurs either. When their Black Widow confronted him in India, she had been more then prepared to deal with the _other guy_. She had brought a squad of highly equipped agents and the concealed gun she'd hid under the table had been a nice touch… useless, but a nice touch.

For the second time that day, he glanced over at Miranda's crates. His curiosity had led him to taking a peek inside one of them. Much to his surprise, the lid of the crate had slammed down on his fingers and a rough masculine voice from within the box had warned, "Do that again and I will cut your nuts off."

The whole experience had been rather perturbing. Obviously, he did not try poking around in Dr. Prospero's things again, but now he had more than SHIELD on his mind. Who was Dr. Miranda Prospero, exactly? Her last words to him as she left for Stuttgart were vexing him: She had a history with alien technology. What did that even mean?

Banner shook his head and picked up a tool from the table at random. The energy out puts weren't about to calibrate themselves. He needed to get out of his head for a moment, focus on the task at hand. Keep moving forward. That was all he could do anymore; keep moving and don't get caught. He was doing swimmingly on that last part.

Out of the corner of his eye he noticed movement on the other side of the windows that separated the lab from the corridor. He looked up and watched as a small army of heavily armed SHIELD agents marched by. In the middle of the group strode a lone bound man. Bruce recognized him immediately. Apparently the mission had been a success, which meant that his time here was almost done.

The wave of relief Bruce felt, however, was short lived as the Asgardian locked eyes with him. The gaze lasted only seconds but it seemed like an eternity. It pulled at something within Banner, calling on his darker nature and it unsettled him. Loki smirked. Banner could practically see the wheels turning in that twisted creature's brain.

And just as quickly, Loki was gone. Banner took off his glasses and rubbed at the bridge of his nose, blinking. He couldn't begin to fathom what that had been about. A part of him was pretty sure he didn't want to know.

Following not far behind the SHIELD escort was Dr. Prospero. She entered the lab and nearly collapsed into a chair, a cylindrical container resting across her lap. The woman looked haggard. Her back arched as she stretched over the chair, causing several excruciatingly loud pops. Banner shifted uncomfortably as he couldn't help but notice how skin tight her suit was.

"I, uh, see you were successful," he said, indicating the corridor where Loki had just passed.

Miranda combed a hand through her short brown hair, "In capturing him? Yes. In figuring out what the hell he has planned? Not so much." Restless, she slipped from her chair and stretched again, "His brother made a grand entrance."

"Thor?" Banner asked as he quickly averted his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose, an old habit. That suit of hers was going to be the death of him. "I thought he was stuck in Asgard."

"So did I. Apparently, Odin got him here somehow," the woman folded her arms and waved a hand in frustration. The questions kept piling up and there were few answers to be had.

"So what happened?"

Dr. Prospero scoffed, "He stole Loki right out from under us." She proceeded to recount Starks brash idiocy and her encounter with Loki, "Once the boys were done with their little testosterone filled grudge match, Thor decided to join us."

Banner stared at the woman in front of him, mouth slightly agape, "You… you _purposely_ provoked Loki?"

She shrugged, waving a hand dismissively, "It was the only way I could get him to drop his guard. It confirmed at least one of my hypotheses." When Banner gave her a questioning look, she explained, "He wants us to think he is defenseless without his spear, which he most certainly is not."

Sighing, she reached out and opened one of her crates, pulling out a simple white lab coat. As she slipped it on, she glanced over at Dr. Banner and noted his confusion. "What?" she asked irritated.

"Aren't you going to change?"

"As long as Loki is on this ship, I don't plan on letting my guard down. Speaking of which…" She opened another crate—the one Bruce had tried to open—and pulled out a two foot tall, gangly looking robot. Its form had obviously been built for utility and not aesthetics. She set the spindly looking thing down on the table in front of Banner and began to twist its three arms and four legs, checking for any signs of wear. Finally satisfied, she tapped the little thing on its scrawny head.

"Caliban," she murmured sweetly to it, like a mother waking her child, "Caliban, wake up. I have a job for you."

The little robot opened one of its two eye stalks and grumbled at Dr. Prospero in a rough male voice, "You always forget the password. What's the point of coming up with security protocols if you don't even use 'em?"

Dr. Prospero smiled genuinely at the little robot, her cold blue eyes softening till it was like Banner was gazing into a warm summer sky.

The robot glared at her and she seemed to cave, "_Be not afeared; the isle is full of noises, sounds and sweet airs, that give delight and hurt not._"

"Password and voice recognized. Welcome Dr. Prospero," the thing said in an official sounding voice. "So," it leaned back and folded two of its arms, "what can I do for yah, Doc?"

Banner couldn't believe what he was seeing. He was quite frankly, dumbstruck. Up until this moment, he would have assumed that Dr. Prospero was incapable of showing affection. He wasn't saying that she was rude or abrasive; she just didn't seem to want to let others in. And her she was, blatantly displaying her affection for this robot in front of him. It was like he found a crack in her wall and she was allowing him to peer in.

"An AI?" he asked, indicating the contraption on the table.

"My first," she confirmed, staring affectionately at the ugly little robot.

"It means a lot to you, doesn't it?" he asked softly. The moment Bruce said those words he immediately regretted it. He watched as her walls slammed firmly shut around her again. Her back straightened and when she turned to look at him her eyes were once again as cold as the arctic sea.

Folding her arms, her face a mask neutrality, she simply stated, "Yes."

"Well," Banner fidgeted, feeling like he had miss stepped somewhere. "It's an impressive piece of technology," he replied lamely.

He leaned in to inspect the robot, but Caliban jumped back, falling into a fighting stance. The tips of all three of his arms sparked menacingly at him as it hissed, "I remember you! You tried to break into Dr. P's stuff!"

The robot scuttled menacingly towards Banner, its three arms closing in to a point, making arcs of electricity dance through the air. Banner wasn't sure what would have happened if Miranda hadn't placed her arm between himself and the little terror.

"That's quite enough, Caliban. Believe me when I tell you, you would just end up making Dr. Banner angry. And you wouldn't like him when he's angry. Besides," Miranda looked at Bruce askance, "I am sure he has a perfectly good reason why he was poking around in my things."

Rubbing at the back of his neck, Banner looked sheepishly at the woman, "I, uh…"

Suddenly, the intercom crackled, "Dr. Banner, Dr. Prospero; you are needed on the bridge."

"Saved by the bell," Prospero gave Bruce a rueful look as she picked up the odd cylinder she had been carrying and placed it on the table in front of Caliban. "You seem like a decent man, Banner. And if you invaded my privacy out of simple curiosity, I can forgive it… _once_." She popped the latches and pulled out Loki's long scepter. Her long, agile fingers caressed the alien instrument delicately, as if it would scald her flesh. Quickly, she placed it on the pedestal and stepped back. "This is your only warning," she spoke to Banner, her voice was low, "don't do it again."

All Banner could do was nod, but it seemed to satisfy her. Her stance relaxed somewhat and a not unfriendly smile pulled at her lips. "Thank you," she said before she turned back to faintly glowing spear and her seething robot.

"Now, Caliban," Prospero addressed the machination, "you are to guard and monitor this spear. You will alert me the moment you detect even the slightest fluctuation in its energy outputs. No one is to _touch_ spear unless they are either Dr. Banner or myself." The robot began to protest, but she held a hand, brokering no argument. "You may use level five defenses."

The little blocks of metal Caliban used for lips twisted into an approximation of a gleeful smile. Banner had a bad feeling about this.

"Oh Doc, it isn't even my birthday. You can count on me," it saluted. The robot twittered about excitedly on the table till it settled itself happily in front of the alien artifact, like a faithful watch dog guarding its master's home. Bruce half expected for it to roll out a tongue and begin to pant.

"Well, that settles that," Miranda sighed as she made her way to the door of the lab. "Come on, Banner," she called over her shoulder at the man, "no rest for the weary."

Following Dr. Prospero's swift strides down the corridor, he asked warily, "What, exactly, are level five defenses?"

"A verbal warning followed by a warning shot," the woman explained matter-of-factly. "If those are not heeded, Caliban may shoot to wound or kill. It is left to his discretion."

Banner laughed uncomfortably, "You're joking, right?"

The woman did not respond but continued her purposeful march down the hallway. Banner stared at her. He thought of the little sadistic robot lying in wait back in the lab, pitying the next poor unsuspecting soul who messed with the spear.

"Damn," he said as he quickened his pace to catch up with her.

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**Disclaimer:** The quote I used for Caliban's password was taken from the bard himself. It was a quote from Billy Shakespeare's "The Tempest." It is one of Caliban's more memorable lines.


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